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We have an opportunity to do something about the ongoing disaster in Darfur. We urge you to read the announcement below and to make time in your schedules for a meaningful action. Note that one of the buses will be leaving from Beth David. The exact time is not yet known, but it will be between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m. We hope that Beth David will be well represented.

Rabbi Daniel Pressman and Rabbi Aaron Schonbrun

On Wednesday, April 9, San Francisco will play host to the official Beijing Olympic Torch Relay. Tens of thousands of Bay Area residents, joined by journalists from around the world, will take to the streets, as China attempts to present a friendly, spirited image to our country as well as international community. Fyi, San Franciso has been chosen to be the ONLY U.S. host of the torch relay.As you may know, the Chinese government is the major military and diplomatic sponsor of the genocide in Darfur. Among other things, Beijing’s leaders supply the Government of Sudan with the small arms and other weaponry that it needs to kill Darfuri civilians. In this and other ways, the Chinese government has fueled a conflict that has seen the deaths of over 400,000 innocent people.The Save Darfur Coalition, Dream for Darfur, STAND: An Anti-Genocide Coalition, and the San Francisco Bay Area Darfur Coalition, and other groups are planning an unprecedented rally for April 9. People from coast to coast — from Portland to Washington, DC — are bringing “Delegations of Conscience” to San Francisco, in order to urge the Chinese government to help stop the genocide in Sudan. This peaceful rally will bring together a truly diverse coalition of activists, including people from faith communities, students, hundreds of Sudanese refugees, and more than a few celebrities!

A successful April 9 event can translate into a world of difference for the people of Darfur. After Steven Spielberg resigned as an artistic advisor to the 2008 games, China immediately starting addressing the Darfur issue in a more robust way, even going so far as to criticize the Sudanese government in modest yet definite diplomatic terms. Here, the Darfur movement’s reasoning is this: If Steven Spielberg can have such an actual policy effect, so can we … but only if we turn out thousands of voices of conscience on April 9.

Many groups in the Bay Area are organizing their own “delegation of conscience” to attend the event together to take a stand in the face of the worst crime known to human beings. We hope you will join us. April 9th promises to be a day of interactive learning and empowerment. Because while it is one thing to read inspiring stories about the Civil Rights Movement, the Anti-Apartheid movement, etc., it is another thing entirely to be an agent for change within a similar social movement.

The official torch for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing will begin touring the world this month and will come to San Francisco – its only stop in the U.S. – on April 9. The Chinese government will use this event to mark China’s rise as a world power. Let’s seize this opportunity to remind China that it must use its power to help end genocide in Darfur.

In the run-up to the Olympics, the Chinese government is cloaking itself in the Olympic ideals of global peace and cooperation. But the games China is hosting in Beijing cannot hide the games it is playing in Darfur.

As Sudan’s most powerful defender in the international community, number one economic partner, and a major arms supplier,China has the influence to put real pressure on Sudanese President Bashir.